A man and his dog were walking along a road. Theman was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred tohim that he was dead.He remembered dying, and that the dog walkingbeside him had been dead for years. He wondered where theroad was leading them.After a while, they came to a high, white stone wallalong one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. Atthe top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowedin the sunlight.When he was standing before it he saw a magnificentgate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and thestreet that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and thedog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he sawa man at a desk to one side.When he was close enough, he called out, “Excuse me,where are we?”“This is Heaven, sir,” the man answered.“Wow! Would you happen to have some water?”the man asked.“Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some icewater brought right up.”The man gestured, and the gate began to open.“Can my friend,” gesturing toward his dog, “come in,too?” the traveler asked.“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t accept pets here.”The man thought a moment and then turned backtoward the road and continued the way he had been goingwith his dog.After another long walk, and at the top of anotherlong hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gatethat looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside,leaning against a tree and reading a book.“Excuse me!” he called to the man. “Do you haveany water?”“Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there, come on in.”“How about my friend here?” the traveler gesturedto the dog.“There should be a bowl by the pump.”They went through the gate, and sure enough, therewas an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. Thetraveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself,then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he andthe dog walked back toward the man who was standing bythe tree.“What do you call this place?” the traveler asked.“This is Heaven,” he answered.“Well, that’s confusing,” the traveler said. “The mandown the road said that was Heaven, too.”“Oh, you mean the place with the golden streetand pearly gates? Nope. That’s Hell.”“Doesn’t it make you mad for them to use your namelike that?”“No, we’re just happy that they screen out the folkswho would leave their best friends behind.”

"To reach beyond fear and danger we must sharpen and widen our vision. We have to pierce through the deceptions that lull us into a comfortable complacency, to take a straight look down into the depths of our existence, without turning away uneasily or running after distractions." -- Bhikkhu Bodhi

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -- Heraclitus